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Mr. Rogers was a Wonder, But If We Take It Down a Notch We Can All Be Him

Won’t You Be My Neighbor is just what you would expect it to be, which is great for the collective us who all need optimism and love at this point in history. And Won’t You Be My Neighbor the documentary is also a worthy film in that it holds a few surprising insider tidbits.

Director Morgan Neville of 20 Feet From Stardom fame does a great job of weaving show clips, interviews with Mrs. Rogers and former cast members. In looking at Neville’s IMDB page, I wonder why I never heard of Best of Enemies: Buckley vs. Vidal and plan to seek that out at Selby Library.

My only quibble with the documentary was the lack of comment on cast member Betty Aberlin who according to IMDB formed a friendship with Kevin Smith and acted in the movies Dogma and Red State. At the risk of sounding like Seinfeld, what’s the deal with not appearing in the doc?

And while Mr. Rogers’ loving nature may seem like a marvel, I’d like to challenge any future protesters on either side of the insipid political strife to literally help a neighbor (meaning impoverished, abused, elderly) in the real time rather than just waste it with bilious talk and sign posts. We can all be Mr. Rogers when you really think about it.